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docs: recommend nix-shell over nix-env for Nix/NixOS - #14057

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@felipeofdev-ai

@felipeofdev-ai felipeofdev-ai commented Aug 3, 2026 •

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Description

NixOS packaging guidance discourages nix-env because it permanently mutates a local profile. This updates the community Nix/NixOS install docs to:

  • recommend nix-shell -p gh for temporary use
  • link the NixOS package page for permanent install options

Fixes #14045

Related: closed PR #14021 (maintainer asked for this shape of change).

How did you test this change?

  • Reviewed rendered markdown locally
  • Confirmed nix-shell -p gh is the documented temporary-use path on search.nixos.org

Key points

Keeping nix-env as the only snippet would continue to steer new users toward a discouraged workflow.

Notes for reviewers

Diff is confined to docs/install_linux.md under the community Nix/NixOS section.

Authorship and follow-up

Who wrote this:

  • A human wrote it.
  • An agent wrote it under close human direction.
  • An agent wrote it independently, and no human has guided the implementation beyond the initial prompt.

Who answers review comments:

  • I (Felipe Fernandes / felipeofdev-ai) will reply if needed.

— Felipe Fernandes · Systems & Agentic AI Engineer
https://github.com/felipeofdev-ai · https://felipeofdev-ai.github.io/

@felipeofdev-ai
felipeofdev-ai requested a review from a team as a code owner August 3, 2026 21:26
@felipeofdev-ai
felipeofdev-ai requested a review from tidy-dev August 3, 2026 21:26
@github-actions

github-actions Bot commented Aug 3, 2026

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Thanks for your pull request! While it doesn't meet all of our standard requirements, it appears to be a small, focused contribution and has been routed to the team for review.

Note: We still encourage linking to an issue with the help wanted label when possible, as it helps us prioritize and track contributions.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added external pull request originating outside of the CLI core team needs-triage needs to be reviewed labels Aug 3, 2026
@felipeofdev-ai
felipeofdev-ai force-pushed the docs/nix-shell-over-nix-env branch from cbf1d4c to e0081cd Compare August 4, 2026 02:54
Comment thread docs/install_linux.md
### Nix/NixOS

The [GitHub CLI package](https://search.nixos.org/packages?query=gh&sort=relevance&show=gh) is supported by the NixOS community with updates powered by [NixOS/nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/pkgs/by-name/gh/gh).
The [GitHub CLI package](https://search.nixos.org/packages?channel=26.05&query=gh#show=gh) is supported by the NixOS community with updates powered by [NixOS/nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/pkgs/by-name/gh/gh).

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Why anchor to this channel number?

@tidy-dev tidy-dev added the stale label Sep 8, 2026
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tidy-dev commented Sep 8, 2026

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Closing as stale.

@tidy-dev tidy-dev closed this Sep 8, 2026
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Recommend nix-shell instead of nix-env for NixOS installation

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